In the first case, a man was detained by Surat railway police force (RPF) personnel with US $300 and Rs 50,000 in fake 500 rupee notes of the scrapped kind. Authorities said they took the man – Baddrudin Bohra (45) – into custody while he was alighting from the general compartment of a superfast train that arrived from Mumbai around 6 am.

They sent the Indian currency found in Bohra’s bag to a bank, which found it to be fake. Sources said police also recovered a Pakistani passport from his possession.

“Sajjad’s movements after arriving at the Surat railway station raised suspicions. When RPF jawans checked his belongings, they found copies of the old 500 rupee note. We arrested Sajjad after he was handed over to us,” said Surat government railway police sub-inspector MR Malek.

In the second instance, Kutch police detained two people with as many as 119 counterfeit 500 rupee notes of the new design – amounting to Rs 59,500. A colour printer and ink cartridges were also recovered from the duo, identified as Madhapur residents Chirag Chauhan (26) and Bhachubha Jadeja (32).